Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Shasta High's Wood named Record Searchlight volleyball MVP

Shasta High junior Sophie Wood is the 2016 Record Searchlight Most Valuable Player for volleyball. She led the area in kills and team-highs in assists, aces and blocks while leading the Wolves to a Northern Section Division III championship.(Photo: Greg Barnette/Record Searchlight)Buy Photo

Shasta High’s Sophie Wood wasn’t sure how the 2016 volleyball season was going to go.

The Wolves lost all but four players – including two-time Record Searchlight MVP Bekah Boyle – leaving only two varsity players who had significant playing time returning.

The transition year also brought a new coach and Wood was uncertain how the pieces were going to fall into place.

“It was a whole new team dynamic; we had to re-create everything,” Wood said. “The team before we had already built up and (it) was solid, but everything was new and I didn’t know what to expect.”

It took some getting used to but Shasta, around the versatility of Wood as a hitter and setter, made it back to the Northern Section finals thanks to a late-season surge. And her performance in the final few weeks of the season, along with a career-best performance in the championship win over Foothill, cemented Wood’s efforts as the 2016 Record Searchlight MVP for volleyball.

Wood is the second Shasta player to earn the honor since it began in 2001, and she keeps the R-S.V.P. on the west side of town after Boyle won it the previous two years.

Despite only being a junior, Wood took control like the senior class of Boyle, Molly Ross and Jessie Toombs did before her. Two years of varsity experience already helped the 6-foot-2 setter expand on her talents and turn into a polished all-around player.

“It was really nerve-wracking at first to be honest, but as the year went on I embraced it and it was fun to take on that role,” Wood said.

She finished the year with 351 kills – more than any player in the area – and still managed play setter, the position she loves most, to distribute a team-high 367 assists.

“I really enjoy setting; it’s like being the quarterback of the court,” said Wood, who also led the team in aces and blocks as her athleticism allowed her to be involved as much as possible.

It’s also the plan for coach Todd Taylor to let the offense funnel through Wood, and it paid off late in the season. With injuries piling up and three girls in walking boots, Taylor shifted Wood to play middle blocker in the front row.

The strategy worked.

Wood averaged 15 kills over the four-match winning streak to get Shasta back to the D-III finals against Foothill, the team that stunned the Wolves in the title game with a three-set sweep the year before. This time, though, Wood did everything in her power to make sure she avenged that loss that still stung.

“The year before Foothill’s goal was to shut Bekah down and me down, but this year there was no way I was going to let them stop me,” Wood said.

Wood turned in a rare triple-double in volleyball with a career-high 30 kills to go along with 24 assists and 13 blocks as she carried Shasta to a five-set victory over Foothill to win the championship.

The injury bug might have plagued the season but the leadership presented by Wood, and the decision-making from Taylor, put everyone in their correct roles during crunch time.

“It didn’t stop us, I really think it made us better, we rallied around it and stepped it up for them to win sections,” Wood said.

Now, midway through her junior year, Wood has a pair of volleyball and basketball section titles. She’s the second female athlete to be named R-S.V.P. in two sports after Enterprise’s Hillary Hurley, who earned the honor for volleyball in 2006 and three times in basketball from 2004-07.

There’s more time for Wood to add to her legacy at Shasta. But for now, another ring in volleyball to match hoops will have to do.